chrisp65 Posted August 24, 2023 Share Posted August 24, 2023 Architects fees are always very good value, no need to haggle with those guys. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AvfcRigo82 Posted August 24, 2023 Share Posted August 24, 2023 2 hours ago, Demitri_C said: Apparently "material costs " gone up since Brexit. There's no apparently about it Dem. They have. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisp65 Posted August 24, 2023 Share Posted August 24, 2023 1 minute ago, AvfcRigo82 said: There's no apparently about it Dem. They have. If you can even get them, we’ve had £10 million projects stop because there weren’t materials, regardless of price. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Demitri_C Posted August 24, 2023 Share Posted August 24, 2023 1 minute ago, chrisp65 said: If you can even get them, we’ve had £10 million projects stop because there weren’t materials, regardless of price. Whats reason? Brexit? Covid? Less people in industry now? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post chrisp65 Posted August 24, 2023 Popular Post Share Posted August 24, 2023 15 minutes ago, Demitri_C said: Whats reason? Brexit? Covid? Less people in industry now? All of that. Brexit was the start, people left and went home to the EU. Less staff meant remaining staff could name their price. Brexit also caused confusion with imports of materials. Covid piled on top of that. Energy prices have raised material costs, making concrete or making plasterboard, or plywood boards or pretty much anything requires energy. If you have less people to make a product, it’s harder to import materials, and the energy cost to make it has doubled, then prices are going to rise. Then you’ve got specifics, companies like Kingspan make great swathes of materials, insulates and claddings. Due to their conduct at the Grenfell inquiry the BRE (Building Research Establishment) have withdrawn their certification. That means the products are no longer backed up with test certificates, so if you use them, your building won’t get insured. The result is a need to find alternatives, its basic supply and demand. Then, the way the industry works, peoples fees are calculated on a percentage of build cost. So if I charge 1% and the build cost has just gone up from £10million to £12million then my fee just went up another £20,000. Why don’t I drop my percentage fee? Because the Bank of England just put all the workers mortgages up, so they need a pay rise to stay in the industry. 4 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AvfcRigo82 Posted August 24, 2023 Share Posted August 24, 2023 51 minutes ago, Demitri_C said: Whats reason? Brexit? Covid? Less people in industry now? All of this, as @chrisp65 has just elaborated. I also work in property maintenance and we now have the other end of the scale too where people either no longer can afford to have work done due to having to prioritise their finances elsewhere due to the cost of living affecting them etc. and/or simply don't want to pay the quotes I give them as my prices have also had to go up to cover the various costs/rises too. People don't want to pay the quotes and I can't do the work any cheaper than quoted or it's not even worth me getting out of bed. Another increasing mentality that I'm noticing (around here in Chester/Wirral) is that they expect you to decorate their entire 3 bed house for £200 and a cup of tea. If it keeps up, I'll unfortunately be forced into another career change as the work is no longer coming in on the scale it once was compared to that of only 12 months ago. Sadly, I fear it will only get worse. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
omariqy Posted August 24, 2023 Share Posted August 24, 2023 Forget about £10m projects, what about my prospective house?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AvfcRigo82 Posted August 25, 2023 Share Posted August 25, 2023 2 hours ago, omariqy said: Forget about £10m projects, what about my prospective house?! Where you not researching costs first to see if it was worthwhile going ahead with the planned extension(s)? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheAuthority Posted August 25, 2023 VT Supporter Share Posted August 25, 2023 3 hours ago, omariqy said: Forget about £10m projects, what about my prospective house?! I believe @sidcow is quite up on shed construction 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Demitri_C Posted August 25, 2023 Share Posted August 25, 2023 7 hours ago, omariqy said: Forget about £10m projects, what about my prospective house?! Have you kept close to 100k to spare.? As @AvfcRigo82 says did you research costs before buying the property? 7 hours ago, AvfcRigo82 said: All of this, as @chrisp65 has just elaborated. I also work in property maintenance and we now have the other end of the scale too where people either no longer can afford to have work done due to having to prioritise their finances elsewhere due to the cost of living affecting them etc. and/or simply don't want to pay the quotes I give them as my prices have also had to go up to cover the various costs/rises too. People don't want to pay the quotes and I can't do the work any cheaper than quoted or it's not even worth me getting out of bed. Another increasing mentality that I'm noticing (around here in Chester/Wirral) is that they expect you to decorate their entire 3 bed house for £200 and a cup of tea. If it keeps up, I'll unfortunately be forced into another career change as the work is no longer coming in on the scale it once was compared to that of only 12 months ago. Sadly, I fear it will only get worse. I was looking at getting quotes for my drive and compared to before its like almost treble the price now as to what it use to be. People dont have the momey to pay the work. I kind of had a feeling this might happen thats why i was generally looking for a proterty that didnt need major work (eg extensions, knocking down walls etx) thankfully thats saved me alot of money 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sidcow Posted August 25, 2023 VT Supporter Share Posted August 25, 2023 More construction companies have gone bust this year already than at any time since the height of the Financial Crisis in 2012. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
omariqy Posted August 25, 2023 Share Posted August 25, 2023 6 hours ago, AvfcRigo82 said: Where you not researching costs first to see if it was worthwhile going ahead with the planned extension(s)? Yeah I’ve been looking around but the costs seem hard to pin down as the range given is so wide. I’ve managed to get someone to come look at it today to give an estimate. From what he says I think I’m ok 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rds1983 Posted August 25, 2023 VT Supporter Share Posted August 25, 2023 24 minutes ago, sidcow said: More construction companies have gone bust this year already than at any time since the height of the Financial Crisis in 2012. Curious what this will do to prices in the next year or two. Will less firms available mean prices go up or will they drop their prices to try and gain work? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Demitri_C Posted August 25, 2023 Share Posted August 25, 2023 47 minutes ago, Rds1983 said: Curious what this will do to prices in the next year or two. Will less firms available mean prices go up or will they drop their prices to try and gain work? Or have less manpower and thw job takes longer? Its a vicious cycle tbh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sidcow Posted August 25, 2023 VT Supporter Share Posted August 25, 2023 56 minutes ago, Rds1983 said: Curious what this will do to prices in the next year or two. Will less firms available mean prices go up or will they drop their prices to try and gain work? I would say construction costs inevitably rise. Less competition = higher prices. Especially if a number of the ones who have gone under tended to be the undercutters buying in the business. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodders0223 Posted November 13, 2023 Share Posted November 13, 2023 Looking to move house, saw a property of interest. Good location but run down and dated and a fixer upper. It's on for 285k I think. Now I looked into the history as I presumed an old couple lived there judging by the lack of work on the kitchen, the awful old fashioned carpets and general disrepair. No, this was bought in 2018 for 220k and looked more modern then. "We bought a house for 220k, ripped a load of stuff out making it worse, put in horrific carpets and wallpaper, and let the outside areas fall into disrepair, garden a shambles, patio moss filled, veranda moss filled and garage and sheds doors falling apart. Now give me 65k." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anthony Posted November 13, 2023 VT Supporter Share Posted November 13, 2023 2 minutes ago, rodders0223 said: Looking to move house, saw a property of interest. Good location but run down and dated and a fixer upper. It's on for 285k I think. Now I looked into the history as I presumed an old couple lived there judging by the lack of work on the kitchen, the awful old fashioned carpets and general disrepair. No, this was bought in 2018 for 220k and looked more modern then. "We bought a house for 220k, ripped a load of stuff out making it worse, put in horrific carpets and wallpaper, and let the outside areas fall into disrepair, garden a shambles, patio moss filled, veranda moss filled and garage and sheds doors falling apart. Now give me 65k." It took us five years! Don't tell me how to do property! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandy Lifeboats Posted November 13, 2023 Share Posted November 13, 2023 44 minutes ago, rodders0223 said: Looking to move house, saw a property of interest. Good location but run down and dated and a fixer upper. It's on for 285k I think. Now I looked into the history as I presumed an old couple lived there judging by the lack of work on the kitchen, the awful old fashioned carpets and general disrepair. No, this was bought in 2018 for 220k and looked more modern then. "We bought a house for 220k, ripped a load of stuff out making it worse, put in horrific carpets and wallpaper, and let the outside areas fall into disrepair, garden a shambles, patio moss filled, veranda moss filled and garage and sheds doors falling apart. Now give me 65k." It could have been an elderly couple who released the equity in the house in 2018 and continued to live there? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seat68 Posted November 13, 2023 Share Posted November 13, 2023 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
omariqy Posted November 13, 2023 Share Posted November 13, 2023 2 hours ago, Mandy Lifeboats said: It could have been an elderly couple who released the equity in the house in 2018 and continued to live there? Wouldn’t have been a sale no? Just additional borrowing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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